


A Night with the Phantom

by CucumbersInGold



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Also Stephen's a Dramatic Bitch and goes as the Phantom, M/M, because I said so, halloween!!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 01:37:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,389
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16466213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CucumbersInGold/pseuds/CucumbersInGold
Summary: Tony Stark wakes up after a Halloween party to remember and a conversation with a stranger he'd rather forget. Turns out that stranger is more familiar than he thought.





	A Night with the Phantom

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for Ironstrange Advent's Halloween event!!! HOoray!!!!
> 
> check my tumblr out (I'm too lazy to link it, I'm klimt-and-cumberbatch)

When Tony Stark finally woke, it was just rounding three in the afternoon.

He was in his bed, laying flat on his stomach. He opened his eyes with a wince - he’d had a beer and a half, max, but his staying away from alcohol seemed to put him at a bit of a disadvantage, in terms of avoiding hangover headaches. He groaned, closing his eyes again and breathing in deeply, his face smushed up against his pillow. He felt a few flecks of glitter get sucked up into his nostrils, and he sighed, his mouth twisting into a moue of distaste.

Fuck parties.

Fuck Halloween parties in particular.

The apartment was a mess. He remembered trying to clean up a bit here and there while everyone else reveled and made merry, wanting to keep the place in some sort of order for when Stephen finally came home. 

Stephen.

Oh, God, Stephen.

The whole point of last night’s beer was to try to enjoy the party, to forget that the love of his life had been gone for three weeks, off on some super-mysterious mission that Tony wasn’t privy to. He wasn’t need-to-know, it seemed, even when it involved Stephen’s life, and his own sex life, more specifically. Stephen’s life was more important, of course, but it wasn’t like Tony was used to not having regular sex. He was feeling Stephen’s absence in more ways than one.

He missed Stephen.

A lot.

He groaned again, squeezing his eyes tightly against the rush of longing that tangled its way through his ribs and up into his trachea. “Stephen,” he whined, his fists curling in the sheets beside him.

“Right here, Tones.”

Tony’s eyes shot back open. No. 

No way.

“Stephen?”

“Yeah, Tony. I’m here.”

Tony felt shaking hands smooth themselves into his gel-caked hair, trembling fingers massaging against his scalp as yet another piteous groan made its way out of his mouth. 

“Oh, Stephen,” Tony breathed, pushing himself up slowly and crawling to drape himself over his lover. He managed to open his eyes again, looking up at Stephen to see his face.

He looked a little worse for wear. Some cuts and bruises - nothing a little TLC wouldn’t fix. But it still broke Tony’s heart to see Stephen like this. Tired, and hurt. Tony tilted himself up a bit, swallowing back his dizziness as he pressed a tender kiss to the corner of Stephen’s mouth, mirroring the slight smirk that tugged at the corner of his lover’s lips.

“Hey, baby,” Tony hummed quietly.

“Hello,” Stephen answered, almost shy.

Tony clicked his tongue softly, reaching up to cup Stephen’s sharp cheek. “Hey, Stephie. Welcome home,” he croaked, his voice a bit raw from the night before. He cleared his throat, kissing Stephen gently once more. The sorcerer responded eagerly, sliding his tongue along the seam of Tony’s lips, enjoying the just-this-side-of-chaste kiss that they shared.

The two parted, Tony with a wide grin on his face, Stephen with a wan smile. 

“You taste like beer,” Stephen commented lightly.

Tony flushed a bit. “I had - for real, I had one. And it was just - “

“ - to take your mind off of things, I know. You told me last night.”

Tony paused. That wasn’t possible. Stephen hadn’t been at the party. He’d spent all night talking to…

“…no.”

“Oh, yes,” Stephen chuckled, his voice rumbly and low, his fingers making their way back to Tony’s hair again. “In your Vincent Price best. Very charming, by the way, the impression that you do. The voice is eerily similar.”

“No,” Tony repeated. “No, that’s - I was talking to - “

\----------

A man in a Phantom costume. Not that original. People came to Stark Halloween parties from all over the city - normally they had an in, they were a friend of Pepper’s, or they knew someone else in the company. Tony put this guy down as one of those. A periphery person, here by pure chance. He kept him on his radar - there were plenty of supers around, including one not-the-legal-drinking-age Peter Parker rubbing elbows with his idols. Tony had to keep a cool head, keep a watchful eye.

The beer in his hand said otherwise.

It was just one. He’d been careful, he didn’t even miss alcohol. That much. But this had been week three without Stephen there, week three of going to bed alone, not getting any loving attention at any time of the day, missing his voice and his smell and the feeling of his shaking hands - 

“Mr. Stark?”

Tony looked up. Phantom guy again. He offered a wry smile, showing off his fangs just a bit. Plastic, but pretty damn realistic looking. “Hey. Do I know you? Oh, lemme guess… Erik, maybe?”

The man in the Phantom mask laughed, shrugging his shoulders beneath his cape. “You got me,” he teased. “And you’re… Price’s Dracula?”

“Very good,” Tony answered in a rather poor Vincent Price impression, laughing a bit to himself. He took another sip from his bottle, not noticing the flash of concern in the other man’s eyes.

“I just wanted to say,” Erik continued, “this is a pretty sweet party. I’m glad I managed to snag an invite.”

“Yeah,” Tony sighed, glancing around the room again. “It’s not bad. I’m glad people are enjoying themselves, yknow? That’s mostly why I do these sorts of things.” He tossed Erik another slap-on smile, preparing to make himself scarce for the rest of the evening. He didn’t get the chance.

“I don’t see Doctor Strange, here. Doesn’t he run with your crowd, now?”

Tony felt a pang in his chest. “Uh. Yeah. He does. But he’s got - work. Even over the holidays, can you believe it?” He joked weakly.

“That sucks,” Erik said honestly, folding his arms over his chest.

“Yeah. It does,” Tony huffed, downing the rest of his bottle. “Lemme get another one of these…”

“Go a bit slower on that one, hm?” Erik suggested jokingly. “Here, I’ll grab you one.”  
Tony sat on the nearby sofa awkwardly, wondering if this guy was going to try to slip something into his drink. He had FRIDAY keep an eye on him, and only accepted the beer when he was sure it was clean. He thanked Erik as the man joined him on the sofa, the two of them watching the rest of the party as the music bumped and their drinks grew warmer in their hands.

Halfway through his second beer, Tony was much more talkative. 

He told Erik nearly everything. How Stephen had joined the team at his request, how they’d grown fonder of one another, their first kiss, their first date… He let it all go. He was a little buzzed and a little lonely, he couldn’t exactly help himself. By the end of the night, he’d been talking to Erik for nearly two hours about Stephen and how dearly he loved and missed him, and he hadn’t even noticed.

“…Mr. Stark, I hate to cut you off,” Erik sighed, “but it’s getting late. I should be going. We all should be.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Tony said quickly, standing and setting his bottle aside. “It is late, isn’t it? Well, uh. Thanks for… Coming. Um. I never caught your name.”

“Erik’s fine,” the other man answered, winking at Tony before turning with a flourish of his cape - did his cape just wave?

“Oh my God,” Tony sighed, putting a hand to his forehead. “Such a fuckin’ lightweight.” By the time everyone had left, Tony and a few of the staff had started to clean up, but Tony quickly surrendered and went off to bed. He didn’t bother to take off the makeup or the gel out of his hair - he just wanted to sleep. A new day meant less time apart from Stephen.

\----------

“I can’t believe that was you and you didn’t say anything, you asshole,” Tony groused, thoroughly embarrassed.

“You really missed me that bad, huh?” Stephen teased, kissing Tony’s temple gently, frowning a bit when he pulled back. “All I can taste is hair gel, you monster.”

“Hey, it was Halloween,” Tony grumbled.

Stephen grinned, kissing him again. “It was a fun party.”

“I’m just glad you’re back,” Tony sighed, relaxing into Stephen’s arms.

“So am I,” Stephen said softly, pulling Tony back down for a bit more sleep. “So am I.”


End file.
